September weather—the tail end of summer heat had just passed, but it was still sweltering.
It was five in the afternoon, the most scorching part of the day had already faded, leaving things slightly cooler.
Songhe District, Tianbei City. Beihai Kindergarten.
The entrance was packed with people, all parents who had come to pick up their children from school.
On an empty lot inside the kindergarten, the kids from Class One of the middle grade had already lined up early under the guidance of their female teacher, waiting for their respective parents.
At this moment, these four and five-year-olds were whispering among themselves, chattering away.
Some kids were showing off their toys to their closest playmates, while others were boasting about how great their mommies and daddies were, and where they were going to be taken this weekend.
In short, they said whatever made them feel cool, their words filled with the childishness of their age—listening to it was just amusing…
“My dad is Ultraman! Jealous? He’s that superhero on TV wearing the big red outfit!”
One rather handsome-looking boy was proudly saying this to his best friend in class, a chubby little kid, very much looking forward to the other’s reaction.
But the moment the chubby kid heard this, he immediately scoffed, his mouth twisting all the way up: “Liar! My dad said there are no superheroes in this world at all! It’s all fake!”
Unexpectedly, the handsome boy got anxious the instant he heard this.
He glared at the chubby kid, unwilling to back down, his little face turning red: “I said there is, so there is! And how could my dad be wrong? There really are superheroes in this world! Otherwise, how would they appear on TV!”
“Pfft, my dad said it’s all acting! Fake, it’s all fake!”
“No! It’s not! My dad is a superhero!”
“Hahaha, so childish!”
The ship of friendship capsized in an instant.
In no time, two kids who had been getting along great had escalated into a heated argument, and it looked like they were about to start shoving each other.
In the end, it was the female teacher who had just returned after sending off another child who noticed what was happening and hurried over to stop them.
“Lin Xiaoming! Huang Zhihao! What are you doing!”
The female teacher immediately pulled apart the two little brats who were about to tangle with each other. Her usually gentle face stiffened as she began scolding them.
“Wahh… Teacher Chang, Huang Zhihao says there are no Ultramen in this world! Wahh… How could there not be! My dad is one!”
Lin Xiaoming, having been shut down by the chubby kid, wiped his tears while still waving his fist in defiance.
“Nyeh nyeh nyeh! There just isn’t!”
Huang Zhihao, at this moment, had temporarily abandoned his good-friend bond to defend his argument, making a face at the other.
This made Lin Xiaoming even angrier, and he cried even louder, drawing the attention of kids from other classes, who looked over curious and confused.
The commotion instantly gave Teacher Chang a throbbing headache, and she felt helpless inside.
Her middle grade class was good in every way—their studies were top-notch—but the only issue was that these kids had too much energy, and every so often they’d start fighting, which led to parents coming to complain to her endlessly. It was truly a cacophony of voices…
At first, she, a fresh university graduate, was really at her wit’s end, not knowing what to do.
But thankfully, she could handle it now, though the two little rascals were the ones who gave her the most trouble, giving her headaches almost every other day.
After another round of fussing, she finally managed to calm Lin Xiaoming and Huang Zhihao down. Teacher Chang could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Really… so exhausting…
She was starting to regret choosing this major.
She thought to herself with bitterness, then subconsciously cast her gaze over the kids in her class, and in an instant, she found that well-behaved little one among the dozen or so children.
It was a little girl named Qin Yiyi, only four years old, yet already as adorable as a porcelain doll.
She had two big, bright, starry eyes, wore a little white floral dress, and had a small braided pigtail—cute beyond words.
Looking at the calm yet lively bright eyes on the little girl’s face, Teacher Chang couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
When you compared people, the gap really was that huge!
Personality was something largely set from childhood, it seemed…
Thinking about this, Teacher Chang looked at the two little demons beside her still glaring at each other, then looked at the little angel who seemed to have noticed her gaze, had already looked over curiously, and flashed a sweet smile.
She felt helpless and frustrated, but her mood quickly and quietly calmed down, her heart nearly melting because of the little girl’s smile.
She then smiled warmly at the girl and nodded in response.
Qin Yiyi blinked her big bright eyes, then opened her mouth slightly, as if saying something.
Teacher Chang quickly understood what the little girl meant. She took out her phone, checked the parents’ group chat, and made a mouth shape back at Qin Yiyi.
Seeing this, Qin Yiyi’s well-behaved and composed expression finally crumpled, revealing a hint of disappointment.
The little one knew her mommy might be very late to come pick her up.
No matter how mature she looked compared to her peers, no matter how smart she was, in the end, she was still just a little girl…
Seeing this, Teacher Chang chuckled inwardly, and unconsciously thought of the little girl’s parent—that young woman who had left such a deep impression on her.
Not only was she impossibly young and beautiful, but her personality was gentle, and she treated others kindly.
Aside from being a bit reserved, in her opinion, she was absolutely the most perfect woman her age she had ever met…
Those so-called stunning celebrities on TV couldn’t hold a candle to her!
And she had to say, like mother like daughter. The little girl had not only inherited her mother’s looks, but her personality was also excellent, very easy to care for, which saved her a lot of trouble…
Because of this, Teacher Chang held a lot of goodwill toward the mother and daughter.
She usually looked after Qin Yiyi more than the others, even treating the little one somewhat like a little sister.
Just as she was thinking, another parent’s call suddenly came from the kindergarten gate: “Teacher Chang! I’m here to pick up Huang Zhihao!”
“Oh, coming!”
Teacher Chang snapped back to reality. She took the chubby kid who was still exchanging glares with Lin Xiaoming and headed toward the gate…
Time quietly slipped by, and slowly, half an hour passed.
There were still a few kids in the class whose parents hadn’t arrived yet, so Teacher Chang let the energetic ones play near the slide for a while.
The other classmates had already paired up to play tag or hide-and-seek, but Qin Yiyi was different. She had long since suppressed the urge to see her mommy.
Bored, she pulled out a children’s edition of Journey to the West that looked a bit heavy for her from her little pink backpack, found a step near the slide, sat down, and stared at it with her round, dark eyes without blinking, completely absorbed.
“Yiyi, what are you reading? Is it that good?”
Fu Yaya, who was still reading her picture book nearby, glanced over and saw her deskmate still reading that thick book.
She finally couldn’t help but scoot closer out of curiosity.
“Journey to the West! It’s really good, I love Sun Wukong!”
Qin Yiyi, seeing her good friend take an interest, was very happy. Her big eyes instantly lit up as she eagerly shared.
“Sun Wukong?”
Hearing this, Fu Yaya blinked, a bit confused, because she only knew Peppa Pig.
So she moved even closer, wanting to see what it was about, but she just felt like her eyes went dark.
She flipped through several pages and found that while the book had illustrations, she thought the text was too dense.
And she hated anything with too many words!
“It’s all words, like ants!” Fu Yaya backed off repeatedly, displeased, pouting as she said, “The picture book you brought last time was way better! All pretty clothes!”
“Huh… is that so?”
Qin Yiyi was puzzled. Wasn’t this pretty easy to understand? She read it every day! Her mommy had even shown her a more complete version.
She loved Sun Wukong’s powers the most, and also the courage to help good people and his hatred of evil!
Thinking this, she still wanted to recommend this story to her friend, who had finally shown some interest—the story her mommy used to tell her almost every night before bed.
She was about to say something when Teacher Chang’s voice came from not far away.
“Fu Yaya, sweetie, your mommy is here!”
“Coming! Teacher Chang!” Hearing this, Fu Yaya’s eyes lit up. She didn’t care about Qin Yiyi anymore, hastily packed up her things, said goodbye, and ran off. “Yiyi, see you next week!”
“See you next week…”
Qin Yiyi waved back, but the more she thought about it, the more unwilling she felt.
She silently swore in her heart that she would definitely get Fu Yaya hooked.
Journey to the West was the best! She had to make her friend feel its charm!
And so, by the time Qin Yiyi had flipped through more than a dozen pages and finished two more stories, as the sky was nearing dusk, Teacher Chang’s call finally came from afar.
“Yiyi! Your mommy is here to pick you up!”
Hearing this, Qin Yiyi’s mind finally pulled away from the story. She immediately lifted her little head and looked over…